National Assembly Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat has approved Rs 31.58 billion for development projects of Capital Administration and Development Division (CA&DD) under Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) in the budget for fiscal year 2017-18.
The committee met with Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan in the chair at Parliament House on Thursday. The committee discussed the PSDP 2017-18, failure of liver transplant project at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) and other issues. The committee was informed that proposed PSDP of CA&DD for the year 2017-18 would comprise about 100 projects including 17 ongoing, 5 unapproved, 32 approved and 46 new projects.
According to documents, 17 projects currently under execution would continue during the next financial year. Five unapproved projects included in the current PSDP are likely to be approved by Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and they would be included in the next year PSDP as well. Six projects of PSDP will be completed during the current financial year.
The division has already approved 32 projects at the cost of Rs 7 billion to be included in PSDP 2017-18. The committee directed that all policies might be devised keeping in view of the ground realities instead of estimated figures in order to bring their benefits at grassroots level. The committee appreciated all the proposals of the divisions but directed that authorities concerned may ensure the completion of ongoing projects before initiating new projects and also ensure equality among all provinces while making new policies to bring their benefits across the country. The committee, therefore, unanimously passed the budgetary proposals of PSDP for the upcoming financial year 2017-18.
The committee also expressed displeasure over the failure of liver transplant project at PIMS, which was started in 2010 with the total cost of Rs 200 million but could not be made functional due to lack of planning and mismanagement. The committee directed the management of PIMS to take stringent measures to make it functional within three months and report to the committee. The committee also decided to write a letter to the prime minister for releasing funds for this project timely.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Rasheed Ahmed Khan, Malik Ibrar Ahmed, Rana Muhammad Qasim Noon, Syed Javed Ali Shah, Moulvi Agha Muhammad, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Parveen Masood Bhatti, Dr Mehreen Razzaq Bhutto, Shehnaz Saleem and Nighat Parveen Mir, and senior officers of the concerned ministries/departments.
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